Howardlex, the SPU was and still is a great cartridge at any price. Many are influenced by price and hype but what you hear in your system is accurate ime.
david
david
Koetsu Jade v SPU classic v FR 7 fz cartidges
Greetings to all !
I am hoping to get some advice concerning my analogue set up.
I use a Brinkmann La Grange turntable with a FR 66s tone arm.
I bought the FR 66 as a high mass "match" for my Koetsu Jade cartridge which has just been fully rebuilt by Koetsu with diamond cantilever.
The rest of the system is Allnic H 3000 phono stage , Allnic L 5000 line stage, Aklnic A 6000 monoblocks and Quad 2905 speakers / Audiophysic Rhea 2 subwoofers (pair).
I listen to a lot of choral classical music and for this the midrange needs to be really " organic" and free from any harshness or glassiness and , very importantly, the cartridge needs to track demanding loud and complex passages properly.
In this latter regard I am not 100% convinced by the Koetsu. It has been professionally installed in the FR 66 using proper alignment tools and is mounted in an Orsonic headshell. Yet to my ears it gets " nervous" in certain demanding passages of music .
I have tried increasing the VTF to 2.5 grams (the maximum recommended is apparently 2.2 gm ?) and this does seem to improve things but I assume that this will have som negative effects given it is some way over the " limit".
I just bought a " standard" SPU Classic (with spherical stylus) in the integrated headshell and, tracking this at 4 gm, I was instantly bowled over by the " organic" midrange in the type of music referred to above.
After a series of "A/B" comparisons with the Koetsu I am struggling to say I really prefer the Koetsu to listen to in my system , although it clearly has greater frequency extremes, transparency and detail than the basic SPU ( it costs over ten times as much !!)
I was wondering if anybody out there has had similar experiences with Koetsu stone bodied cartridges ?
I am now thinking of going for one of the FR 7 cartridges ( fz version) and again would welcome any comments on this and how it might compare to the Koetsu / SPU ?
With kind regards,
Howard
I am hoping to get some advice concerning my analogue set up.
I use a Brinkmann La Grange turntable with a FR 66s tone arm.
I bought the FR 66 as a high mass "match" for my Koetsu Jade cartridge which has just been fully rebuilt by Koetsu with diamond cantilever.
The rest of the system is Allnic H 3000 phono stage , Allnic L 5000 line stage, Aklnic A 6000 monoblocks and Quad 2905 speakers / Audiophysic Rhea 2 subwoofers (pair).
I listen to a lot of choral classical music and for this the midrange needs to be really " organic" and free from any harshness or glassiness and , very importantly, the cartridge needs to track demanding loud and complex passages properly.
In this latter regard I am not 100% convinced by the Koetsu. It has been professionally installed in the FR 66 using proper alignment tools and is mounted in an Orsonic headshell. Yet to my ears it gets " nervous" in certain demanding passages of music .
I have tried increasing the VTF to 2.5 grams (the maximum recommended is apparently 2.2 gm ?) and this does seem to improve things but I assume that this will have som negative effects given it is some way over the " limit".
I just bought a " standard" SPU Classic (with spherical stylus) in the integrated headshell and, tracking this at 4 gm, I was instantly bowled over by the " organic" midrange in the type of music referred to above.
After a series of "A/B" comparisons with the Koetsu I am struggling to say I really prefer the Koetsu to listen to in my system , although it clearly has greater frequency extremes, transparency and detail than the basic SPU ( it costs over ten times as much !!)
I was wondering if anybody out there has had similar experiences with Koetsu stone bodied cartridges ?
I am now thinking of going for one of the FR 7 cartridges ( fz version) and again would welcome any comments on this and how it might compare to the Koetsu / SPU ?
With kind regards,
Howard
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- 25 posts total
I have a Windfield which is quite good. I just came from a Benz LPS...the Ortofon is less colored and still has all the good stuff I heard from the Benz. My Ortofon took lots of time to break in and required careful setup. I loaded it with various settings but 1000 ohms really made it sing. Very musical. |
It doesn't much matter whether the Orsonic is a fake or real. The design indicates little appreciation for structural mechanics or the job of a proper headshell. Whilst I have used many good headshells in the FR Series tonearms....there is a definite affinity with their own headshells particularly the S3 of which I have five...👅 The FR-7f is a fine cartridge. It's limitation unfortunately is its conical stylus which sadly leaves some critical groove information undisclosed. Change the stylus to a Line Contact however....and there are very few modern uber $ cartridges which can play on the same field....😎🎼 |
From Benz to Ortofon SPU ? I'm sure you're talking about elliptical or ortofon replicant SPU, not conical Classic SPU ... No? With a SUT? Just curious. It makes me wonder when less detailed and darker presentation described as more "musical", but this is just my opinion about conical spu classic mk2. |
I have tried the Orsonic 101, Ikeda, Audiotechnica Technihard, Audiocraft and the original FR headshell in my FR64S with a variety of cartridges including Koetsu, Dynavector Nova 13, Ikeda, FR1mk3, Victor X1 and many others. With the Koetsu the Orsonic is my preferred choice - smoother and more transparent in the top end than any of the others. Only "downside" is a slightly fat bottom end, but the bottom end is tuneful (timing is not impaired). By comparison the Ikeda & Technihard headshells are more emphatic, tighter, but slightly less resolving. Optimum can be cartridge dependent. The other suggestion I have for getting the best out of the FR arm is to use a combination of Static and Dynamic balancing for setting the tracking force. I set the VTF Knob to 0.5g and then adjust the counterweight to bring the tracking force up to the required level. This improves speed, resolution and soundstage of all cartridges I have used with the arm. In my experience using Dynamic Balancing ( the VTF Dial) for setting the total tracking force on the FR sucks all the life out of the cartridge. |
- 25 posts total